


The Monster

by Cmiller89



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cylo is a terrible person, Luke doesn't know what to do, Vader is actually a literal monster, darkish au, different first meeting, summer fic exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25291096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cmiller89/pseuds/Cmiller89
Summary: Cylo was originally charged with creating a cybernetic terror for his Emperor, but he couldn't give up the opportunity to create a genetic monstrosity, especially given the "parts" he had to work with.For the Summer Fic Exchange.
Relationships: Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker(mentioned)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 114
Collections: 2020 Star Wars Summer Fic Exchange





	The Monster

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rilliane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rilliane/gifts).



> This is my submission to the Summer Fic Exchange and is gifted to Rilliane!
> 
> I hope you like it, though I know it's a bit different.
> 
> Otherwise, I do apologize if there are any grammar issues or something that reads "strange" as I ended up doing this over 3 different technologies: iPad, phone, then computer. It has not been beta'd.

Monster

  
  


The mission briefing had made it sound all so simple. Disguise your way into an Imperial bunker, steal the weaponry, secretly load them onto a commandeered Lambda-class shuttle, and rendezvous with the fleet. Simple, but, as is often true with Luke Skywalker: nothing ever ends up simple. 

Getting to and in the bunker went smoothly enough. Finding the weapons was straight forward. That’s pretty much when simple ended and chaos began: currently, they were hiding behind the weaponry cases taking intermittent shots at Stormtroopers who had shown up at just the right moment to trap them in the storage bay. Too right, actually. 

Luke already knew the answer: a mole must be in their ranks and a part of him felt apprehension at the fact said mole could still be among the others on the fleet’s main ship. Worse, there was no way he could contact the fleet now with blaster fire raining down upon them. He heard the scream of a comrade next to him and flinched at the glimpse of the body lying motionless beside him. He was going to have to do something drastic and soon. He could “feel” more Troopers were coming and blaster fire didn’t seem to be doing much to stop the ones they were dealing with now. 

He could hear the echo of voices from the briefing, reminding Luke to be hesitant to display his Force powers. Mothma had even pulled him aside and reminded him of the monster he only barely saw on the Death Star. The creature referred to as Vader, that Ben had stayed behind to fight. A creature, Mothma assured him, had survived the destruction of the Death Star. It was something he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around. A living creature surviving the destruction of an entire battle station, thrown into space? A creature that would have survived the entrance into any planet’s atmosphere and still be okay once it hit the ground?

It was preposterous, insane, something out of a Tatooine tale to scare little children into obeying their guardians. Yet The Force told him it was true. 

That frightened him more than it should. 

“Why does that thing come into play here?” He had asked, eyes watching the other Rebels walking by the shadowed alcove Mothma had pulled him into. She had been hesitant to respond, her eyes flickering between staring at the durasteel floor and his face. “From what I understand, he too has The Force. I don’t believe he knows you do too, but-“

“He?”

“But! You mustn’t give him a reason to discover you do. If you display anything reminiscent of a Jedi’s power, the Imperials will immediately contact their higher-ups. These officers could contact the ones that hold Vader’s leash. We can’t have you or ourselves compromised by his appearance,”

“Compromised? How would-“

“Vader’s power, in size, strength, and Force prowess, could make it impossible to hide from him if…” She looked away and Luke knew exactly what she kept herself from uttering.

‘ _ If you come back to the fleet’ _

This memory was all that kept him firing, using the Force only to make sure of a direct hit. And yet, with the screams of more comrades falling, Luke was finding it harder and harder to not jump forward with his lightsaber lit. He wasn’t as good as Ben, he knew that, but with the Force and his father’s saber: he could possibly do something more. Something…

A young Twi’lek woman (Sahranney, maybe?) let out a hitched breath and fell back from the case. He knew it was only her first time out and, obviously, they hadn’t expected this amount of resistance they now faced. She held her side and breathed heavily, tears filling her eyes, whispering prayers in her native tongue. 

Luke took a deep breath and turned back towards the Stormtroopers, more of which were already filing in. Luke looked over at the few Rebels left and knew they were doomed unless something happened. 

In one smooth motion, he jumped from behind the cases, his lightsaber on, and began feeling the Force as best as he was taught, knocking back blaster bolts. More so than actually making a dent in the troopers, he was drawing their attention. Even the ones entering the bay were drawn towards him and he knew this was the only chance his troop had. He gave them a look and they immediately ran, some carrying the injured the best they could. 

He continued to do his best with his saber, but it was clear he simply didn’t have the knowledge nor skill set to deal with this many Stormtroopers. His breath hitched as he felt bolts hit his legs and he fell to his hands. 

“Enough!”

An Imperial approached through the parting of troopers and Luke was certain he must be a General of some kind. He flared up at the man, focusing on him rather than his pain. 

The General smirked. 

“How very interesting. It seems we caught ourselves a Jedi, boys!” The Troopers around them seemed confused. 

“No, no, Jedi isn’t the right word here. You know, I’m old enough to remember the harrowing tales of the Jedi of The Clone Wars. You aren’t quite there, are you?”

Luke looked away. 

“Hmm, no matter! I knew you and your little band of rats would be coming. I must admit, I have been very anxious over it all. Namely, because I have a special guest here! The good doctor wanted to meet you too and he knew his favorite pet would love to play with you! I thought you would feel him with that magic of yours, but it seems Doc was right: you’re too weak”

Luke’s head shot up at that. “Doctor? Pet?”

The General chuckled and motioned two troopers towards Luke. He was pulled to his feet and cringed from the pain in his legs. 

“Take him to the chamber we have prepared. The doctor will join us shortly”

———

The chamber was more like an empty factory of sorts, it’s innards stripped. Luke sat strapped to a chair, troopers to either side, the General standing before him. 

Suddenly, the giant doors on the other side of the massive building opened and out walked a strange-looking man. His right eye and the skin surrounding it looked Rodian, but otherwise, he appeared human. 

He stopped halfway towards them and beckoned the General.

“Bring him!” The General commanded and Luke was roughly brought before the strange man and thrown to the ground. 

“This is the force user our spy told us was coming, Doctor. We don’t have a name, but I knew of your interest so was delighted when you decided to venture here,”

Luke felt slightly unhinged at the expressionless stare the Doctor gave him until he smirked. 

“I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for my favorite creation, General. He was able to confirm the authenticity of the Force user and he is quite excited to play,”

Luke gulped then suddenly gasped as a dark power began to expand in his mind. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.

“Ah, it seems he can’t wait any longer,”. 

From the same doors the Doctor had entered from, came an unnatural guttural roar. From the darkness, two massive claws gripped each door and tore them off to make more room for the thing’s considerable bulk. A monstrous head came next and Luke couldn’t possibly match it to any creature he had ever seen or heard of. It was like some strange abominable amalgamation of bone and flesh. The back of its skull seemed to be made of black bone that parted and came down both sides of its head, creating an almost helmet-like look. Under this were glowing red eyes and a large muzzle with massive teeth, so large that the creature seemed incapable of closing its mouth. Loud breathing seemed to be the result. The rest of its huge form somehow wrestled through the doorway. Its body was almost like a dog, but its limbs seemed longer than they should be, though muscular and scaled. Its shoulders appeared like large pauldrons made of bone and it’s tail looked skeletal with a strange, almost mechanical piece at the very tip. 

“My name is Doctor Cylo and this is my greatest genetically modified creation: Vader!”

The creature smelled the air then looked pointedly at Luke and let open its massive maul to roar. A long tongue whipped out and cracked in the air, eagerness tainting the Force, causing Luke to try and skitter away on instinct. The troopers grabbed him and pushed him forward once again. 

“I must make sure we are on the same page, though General,” Cylo glanced at Luke, “And  _ Jedi _ ,”. The beast’s mouth filled with drool, most dripping to the floor. 

“Vader is my creation, but I am not his owner. He was a gift to our mighty Emperor, though even he was surprised at my capabilities. He originally sought a cybernetic based being but given the  _ parts  _ I had to work with, I couldn’t pass up this attempt at playing God!” Cylo laughed and Luke felt sick. Whatever this  _ thing  _ is, it was something else before Cylo got a hold of it. 

“Now, Jedi wannabe, I can't have my boss upset that my creation hasn’t wiped out every Jedi and Pseudo-Jedi, like you, so Vader is here to squash this bit of bad news before the headline reaches the Emperor. Tell me, if your life depended on it, could you run?”

Luke’s eyes widened and Cylo grinned then looked pointedly at the General.

“Release him,”

“What?”

“I said, release him, General! It has been a while since I’ve been able to witness my creation  _ hunt _ ,”. 

His bindings were removed and the stormtroopers ran from his side. He shakily got to his feet and watched as the General left his lightsaber on the ground in front of him, then he too ran to the far sides of the chamber, Cylo walking pridefully behind him. 

“Now, little Force user, light your weapon and prepare yourself!”

Luke closed his eyes, trying to center himself and ignore the pain shooting through his legs. He opened them and lit his saber only to be met with the lighting of another. From the mechanical device on Vader’s tail, a red lightsaber glowed in the semi-darkness. 

“Ah, yes, the only cybernetic implement: a red lightsaber, the color of the Jedi’s eternal enemy, the Sith! I thought it would bring some flavor to each Jedi’s death by Vader’s claws.”

At that, Luke turned and ran. 

——

Luke hadn’t gotten very far through the compound before Vader caught up to him. He tore off a wall and Luke narrowly missed being grabbed by his jaws. The giant beast ran forward through the hallway after Luke, the entire structure tearing apart under the pressure of Vader’s massive form. 

Luke ducked then propelled himself away from Vader’s lightsaber, the red beam impaling the floor. The beast snarled and Luke was slightly startled by an almost human feeling of annoyance in the Force. 

He shook it off and ran into another part of the building. 

‘Great. A boiler room’

Luke jumped from pipe to pipe to try and have a better angle but found himself losing his footing once the monster broke through the wall. 

He caught himself on a hanging pipe and looked down to find Vader staring up at him, his mouth opening and tongue lashing upwards. Luke scrambled to pull himself up and, in doing so, cut himself on a broken piece of the piping. He pulled himself up and straddled the pipe, holding his heavily bleeding hand. 

Through the Force, he heard a barely human voice echoing,  _ “Fall, fall, fall!” _

Startled, Luke moved to try and stand to balance, wincing as he felt the blood gush from his hand, the drops falling to Vader’s maw. 

He started to run on the pipe, almost to a better position, but the Force exploded out from Vader and he found himself slammed against a wall, sliding down to a metal platform, unconscious. 

———

The blood had told him. 

It was so unexpected and the powerful mingling of  _ human _ feelings, ones he hadn’t felt in almost two decades, had caused the Force to explode from him. 

Vader’s mind wasn't used to thinking beyond the usual animalistic thoughts that had gotten him this far, so he found himself confusedly sniffing the air and using The Force to find  _ him _ . 

_ ‘There, there!’ _

It was muffled, but the boy- _ his son _ -was alive, laying on a metal platform. 

_ ‘Son?’ _

Vader pushed him slightly with his snout, but his son merely moaned and slumped over. 

_ ‘Sleep?’  _

The boy didn’t respond to his mental query.

‘ _ Mine?’ _

Vader unfurled his tongue and wrapped it softly, but strong enough, around his son, picking him up and bringing him closer to his eyes. Their harsh, red glow faded, revealing human eyes. 

He studied the boy. Up close, his features definitely proved what the blood already told: he looked much like Vader once had with a touch of  _ her _ .

‘ _ Mine? _ ’

The concept felt so foreign.  _ He _ was the one owned and chained; a dog waiting for his master’s command. He could hardly remember having anything or anyone as his, but the more he stared at his son’s face, the more he could recall what this feeling was. 

_ “Ani, I’m pregnant” _

Vader looked back in the direction he came from. He could feel Cylo’s impatience starting to grow. 

Good. 

Vader brought Luke into his mouth and carefully shut his jaw.

Then he began to dig. 

—-

“Strange,”

The General looked over at Cylo, who had a holo of a map floating above a contraption on his wrist. 

“Sir?”

“Hmmm, General, I must apologize. I lied before. My creation has one other cybernetic enhancement: a tracker. It seems Vader is no longer on the surface,”

The General gave him a questioning look. 

“We’ll give him a bit more time, however...General? Do me a favor and contact our spy. I’d love to know if we can get a name for our little wayward semi-Jedi,”. 

——-

The first thing Luke realized was warmth.

Once he groggily awoke and opened his eyes, he understood why. 

Lava.

He was on some sort of rock ledge and over the side flowed a stream of lava; machinery scattered along the embankments and walls. 

So, some sort of mining facility then? Strange.

He tried to get to his feet, but the pain from his leg wounds caused him to fall back over. It seemed that his adrenaline had finally worn off and the pulsating ache couldn’t be ignored any longer.

At his stumble, the Force rang with panic. Not his own panic, though, but…

Luke whipped around and was met by the head of Vader, studying him worryingly(?). Luke hastily grabbed for his lightsaber at his belt only to find it was no longer there. With the lava flowing far below him and Vader blocking any other way out, he knew his fate was sealed. 

“Well, go ahead! I don’t know how we ended up here or why I’m still alive. I’m guessing you like to play with your food?” Luke yelled.

He was met with a questioning tilt of the creature’s head. 

“Don’t play dumb! You’ve killed so many Jedi! You killed Ben and-and you killed my father!”

Vader reared back with a snarl and let out an angry roar into the air causing Luke to flinch back. 

There was a cascade of emotions filling the Force, most all too human. Luke was slightly surprised to realize it was all from Vader. 

_ Whatever Vader is, he was something else before _

The waves of emotions soon decreased to a stream and Luke was able to think more clearly. Vader brought his head back down, his nose only a foot from Luke’s face. 

‘ _ No’ _

Luke blinked. So, Vader was able to communicate(though apparently rather rudimentarily) through the Force. Telepathy, maybe? Luke was sure that was the name for it. 

“No? So, you won’t kill me?”

_ ‘Yes’ _

“What do you mean ‘Yes’?!”

Vader released frustration into the Force. Not at Luke, no, but rather at the creature’s desire to be understood and his inability to speak normally. 

_ ‘Yes, no-kill. No, father,’ _

“Yeah, I know I don’t have a father because of you! I don’t care if you were created from-from something--”

_ ‘Father’ _

“Yes, you killed him!”

Vader let loose a roar full of aggravation and Luke flinched away, putting his hands up in a futile attempt to protect himself. 

Vader stopped immediately at Luke’s fear, something that didn’t go unnoticed to the young man. 

“None of this makes sense…” Luke whispered. Apparently, Vader could hear not just his words, but his thoughts as well (damn telepathy) and sent something akin to comfort at Luke. 

“Stop! So, since you are apparently  _ not  _ going to kill me,” Luke side-eyed Vader and the beast nodded his head. “Then why are we  _ here _ ?” Luke outstretched his arms to get the point across. 

_ ‘Dig. Away from. Time,’  _ Vader tried to explain, but Luke arched his eyebrow. 

“What? Away from Cylo? Time? Time for what?”

Vader merely stared at him, his deep breaths pushed out and in from his teeth, and Luke felt the Force started to  _ shake _ . It was as if something important was happening. Something…

_ ‘Father. Not killed. Change’ _

“Changed? Argh! This is too insane! Regardless, if he’s alive then why...why didn’t he come?”

‘ _ Not know. Not know you. Alive.’ _

“How-how could you possibly know any of this?! I was told you killed him! It fits! You’ve killed so, so many! You-”

‘ _ I. Am. Father.’ _

Those “words” hit him like a bantha to the chest. The Force rang with truth and Luke felt himself grow nauseous. 

“No, no, that’s not true! That’s a lie!” He stood up(adrenaline now coursing through him; his battered legs forgotten)and slowly moved backward, away from Vader. “You’re just a monster! You don’t know! That-that can’t be true! It can’t!”

So wound up in the revelation, Luke didn’t realize his last step took him over the cliff and before he could grab on, he found himself falling towards the river of lava below. He scrunched his eyes closed and waited for what should surely be one of the worst ways to die, but it never came. Instead, he was caught by Vader’s massive claws and brought back to solid ground, albeit, placed behind where Vader had been, farther from the edge. 

_ ‘Truth. Master. Master lied’ _

Luke coughed to both exhale the fumes of the lava he almost hit and to regain his composure. 

“Lied? Your master? The Emperor?” Luke questioned, peering up at Vader, supposedly his father. But none of that made sense! Luke is human, but this thing? Didn’t look human at all. It was truly a monstrosity. A creature made from--

Luke’s eyes opened wide as he remembered Cylo’s sick words…

_ “He originally sought a cybernetic based being but given the  _ **_parts_ ** _ I had to work with, I couldn’t pass up this attempt at playing God!” _

He shuddered and felt a new wave of nausea hit him. One born of the realization that it  _ was _ plausible, in a terrible, sick way, Vader is his father. If he was a man once, a powerful Force user as Ben claimed, then he would have been perfect, but parts? Parts? How--

Luke’s thoughts were interrupted by the licking of his hair by Vader’s tongue. 

“Wait, whoa, whoa there!” Luke pulled himself away by his hands, the ache in his legs now back. Vader tilted his head, but his tongue came back and Luke sloppily dodged his head away until, ultimately, Vader won and was back to licking his hair once more. 

“This...this is all hard enough to comprehend without you licking my hair, ya know!”

A chuckle rang in the Force, but Vader didn’t stop. Great. Just great. He gave Vader a pout and crossed his arms, but that only seemed to fuel his amusement. 

‘ _ Just like her. Mother. Her….’ _

Before Luke could question his fa--Vader about that little thought, a loud buzzing from above caught his attention, and apparently, Vader’s as well since the licking ceased, and the beast moved to tower over Luke in a protective position. From what Luke could gather, before Vader’s bulk eclipsed his vision, was that something was descending down from a giant hole in the rocky ceiling, a hole, Luke had no doubt, was created by Vader’s digging. 

The sound of small ships landing around them could mean only one thing: their time was up. 

Cylo was here. 

Luke moved enough around Vader’s clawed foot to see Stormtroopers exiting multiple crafts and Cylo, the devil himself, walking down the ramp of another, followed closely by The General from before. 

Clapping filled the massive underground mining facility Vader had brought them to and Luke could “feel” Vader’s anger mounting as Cylo drew near. The man didn’t stop his clapping until he was only a few yards from them. 

“Oh, Vader! I was rather confused at first when I found you had stopped your hunt and burrowed down here like some Alderanni  _ ant _ , but the Empire’s dear, dear spy brought me some amusing information!”

Vader released a huff which only seemed to cause Cylo’s smirk to widen. 

“It makes so much sense now! You must have figured it out, hmm? The boy is none other than the destroyer of the Death Star: Luke Skywalker!”

Luke could feel the collective surprise then seething hate from the Imperials around them, but Vader, though tinged with a bit of surprise(and pride) didn’t seem to care otherwise. 

“It’s the name that holds more weight for me, Vader, as I assume it does you?”

Vader roared, challenging Cylo. The doctor shook his head and sighed. 

“Oh, Vader, how I thought I had made you  _ better _ than such silly human emotions of kinship. But, here we stand, you disobeying me,  _ hiding _ from me, all for this tiny human that you can’t possibly hope to have any sort of relationship with!”

Instead of releasing another roar, Luke felt something strange emanating from Vader in the Force...something like shame. Luke clenched his teeth. 

“However, maybe I can give you some semblance of one! Our Master, the Emperor, maybe a little upset at first, but perhaps he’d like another pet in his army!”

Vader roared and hate spilled out into the Force, a wave of primal power shot forth from around Vader, knocking down the Stormtroopers who had been slowly closing in. Cylo fell back but quickly got back to his feet. Vader then left his protective stance above Luke and ran towards Cylo, jaws dripping with drool. 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Cylo pushed a button on something attached to his wrist and Vader screeched in pain, falling headfirst into the rocky floor. Electricity arched around his body and Luke gasped in horror. 

“My creation has quite an interesting failsafe specifically designed for his Master,” Cylo proudly said as he walked past the huge, fallen form of Vader and towards Luke. “I made sure to make any electrical currents extra painful for him! The Emperor had originally asked the same of the cybernetic creation I was supposed to have made from your father’s burnt and broken body,”

Luke almost let out his own roar at Cylo’s disgusting words. He barely got back on his feet but fell right back down. His legs simply couldn’t take any more abuse. And now he really did know it was true: Vader was made from his father’s body. Luke didn’t know how he became “burnt and broken”, but that didn’t matter. Vader IS his father, regardless of how he looked now. 

“Your sick!” He yelled at Cylo. 

“Sick? I could see how some plebian from a backward Outer Rim planet could think that, but I’m actually the greatest doctor this Galaxy has ever seen! I even had a plan where I could live forever, but I’m considered so great by our dear Emperor, that he put me on other matters and assured me of my safety! Once I’m done with those, though, I’ll go back to it, and then I can create and destroy at a whim for eternity!” Cylo laughed maniacally, but Luke was too focused on Vader, who still laid behind the doctor, electricity flowing over him. 

‘It doesn’t matter what you are now, Father,’ Luke mentally sent to him, though even that was hard with the agony spilling into the Force, ‘You are still Anakin Skywalker! You wouldn’t have been able to stop your rampage and hide with me if you are nothing but an animal!’

Luke was thrown back from a backhand by Cylo. He was concentrating so hard, he hadn’t realized the Doctor had gotten close enough to touch him. 

“You’ll learn to listen, boy! Actually, you’ll  _ have _ to!” Cylo grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pull him up to meet his eyes. “I’m going to enjoy making another Force beast for my Master! The second time always ends up so very rewarding!”

Luke pushed himself back away from Cylo, falling to the ground with a grunt, and pushing himself even farther away. 

“Oh, boy, you can’t run anymore! And  _ daddy _ can’t save you! He can’t do a thing when volts like this pulse through him! I  _ made _ it that way and now I will re-make you and--”

He didn’t have a chance to finish. Vader had fought the electrical onslaught and Cylo, so caught up in his own pride and monologue, didn’t see his own creation bring his jaws down around him. 

Now, all that was left of the great Doctor Cylo, the galaxy’s most advanced scientific mind, creator of Vader: was being swallowed. The electric pulse ceased and Vader pulled himself to his full height and roared at all the Imperials still standing around them. Without hesitation, they all ran back towards their transports and flew off towards the hole above. 

“You-you did it!” Luke ran over to him and placed a hand on his father’s snout. “See, you  _ are  _ more than a monster, at least, well, to me. Not so much to Cylo or those other guys, but, I guess, they don’t matter,”

He felt Vader’s agreement ring in the Force as well as worry. His tongue shot out and wrapped around Luke’s body, bringing him up to meet one of his glowing red eyes. 

“Hey, hey, now wait just-” Luke cut himself off as the red glow dissipated and he was met with a human-looking blue eye, one just like his own. 

‘ _ Okay?’ _

“Yeah, I’m fine, but my legs still hurt from earlier. Um, just this once, I’ll let you carry me, okay?”

Vader seemed affronted by “just this once”, but he brought Luke up to the top of his head and laid him there. 

‘ _ Hang on’ _ Vader sent and Luke grasped at what he could as Vader jumped up towards the hole above and quickly ascended towards the escaping ships. 

‘ _ If they go. Emperor will know’ _

Luke sent a telepathic agreement tinged with pride for how quickly his father was re-learning human speech. As his father decimated the escaping shuttles and even after finding his lightsaber on the surface, Luke knew that, if he could convince his father, the Rebellion now had one of the most powerful weapons to help in their defeat of the Empire. 

Beyond that, and far more important, Luke now had his father, regardless of what he was now. 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
